Kouros Fraicheur and weird occurrences on ebay.

I noticed a full 100 ml bottle of Kouros Fraicheur on ebay about 24 hours ago. It was a week long auction starting at $24.99 or thereabouts, with free shipping. It was listed under women's fragrances. I bookmarked it because this fragrance seems like it might be the next Patou Pour Homme. Anyway, I went back there a few hours ago and saw it bid up to $81. Not long ago I went back again to check something out and the listing is gone! Who would want to stop an auction with that kind of early action? Did anyone here list it and then decide he wanted to keep it? LOL.

Re: Kouros Fraicheur and weird occurrences on ebay.

Looks like it was relisted with a starting price of $130.00 (item # 251195888869). That seems to be a really bad move, especially after it was bid up to $81 in less than 24 hours. There is such as a thing as a "market" for such frags, and with that kind of early action it would have likely sold for the max. Often, frags with reasonable starting bids are not bid on whereas ones with low bids are bid considerably higher than that amount. Greed isn't always good. Sometimes you have to think of the psychology of the buyers.

Re: Kouros Fraicheur and weird occurrences on ebay.

Originally Posted by Bigsly

Looks like it was relisted with a starting price of $130.00 (item # 251195888869). That seems to be a really bad move, especially after it was bid up to $81 in less than 24 hours. There is such as a thing as a "market" for such frags, and with that kind of early action it would have likely sold for the max. Often, frags with reasonable starting bids are not bid on whereas ones with low bids are bid considerably higher than that amount. Greed isn't always good. Sometimes you have to think of the psychology of the buyers.

Well said, and my thoughts exactly about the wisdom of such moves. I've been buying on ebay for years and I've seen this happen enough that it makes me wonder what people are thinking when they do this. Certainly a week long auction that had been bid up $50 in 24 hours would seem to have been on course to have blown well past $130. Increasing your starting bid eliminates the smaller bidders that would have driven the price up and generated the interest to draw the big money. It's a lot like playing poker with a hand you realize right away will win you the pot if you play it correctly. You drive the betting up slowly through a few rounds to keep the others at the table in the hand and allow the pot to grow large before you either force a call or bid over the top and take the hand. If you have the cards and the money you don't go all in after the first round of bets.

Re: Kouros Fraicheur and weird occurrences on ebay.

Yeah, this one is destined to become more valuable as time goes on. I picked up a brand new bottle of it last year for $40 on eBay. Thankfully, right before the auction ended eBay crashed and by default, I won. Can't imagine how high it would have gone if it were able to go until completion.

Further, I've privately contacted sellers and offered to pay them a certain amount to end the auction early. And then they just invoice me via PayPal and they don't pay the final value fees and I get my item. Win/win...who cares if eBay gets screwed. They deserve it: they've become amazingly greedy over the last 5 years.

Re: Kouros Fraicheur and weird occurrences on ebay.

Originally Posted by spcmiller

Yeah, this one is destined to become more valuable as time goes on. I picked up a brand new bottle of it last year for $40 on eBay. Thankfully, right before the auction ended eBay crashed and by default, I won. Can't imagine how high it would have gone if it were able to go until completion.

Further, I've privately contacted sellers and offered to pay them a certain amount to end the auction early. And then they just invoice me via PayPal and they don't pay the final value fees and I get my item. Win/win...who cares if eBay gets screwed. They deserve it: they've become amazingly greedy over the last 5 years.

I agree. If it's rare and you want it then make the seller an offer. At the least if he decline's you'll have an idea of what he wants for it. Usually you'll get a counter offer.